Friday, November 04, 2011

Q: Name a well-known singer. Drop the first and last letters of the singer's first name and you'll get the letters of a well-known company. Drop the first and last letters of the singer's last name, and you'll identify the logo that the company is classically known for. Who is the singer and what's the company?

Musical clue: Adele & Lil Wayne

Edit: There were two clues in my answer. First I had an ampersand (&), hinting at the additional symbol needed in the company name. Second if you combine Adele and Wayne you get "Adele Wayne". Patti LaBelle played Adele Wayne, the mother of Dwayne Wayne on A Different World.

80 comments:

Here's my standard reminder... don't post the answer or any hints that could lead directly to the answer (e.g. via Google or Bing) before the deadline of Thursday at 3pm ET. If you know the answer, click the link and submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.

You may provide indirect hints to the answer to show you know it, but make sure they don't give the answer away. You can openly discuss your hints and the answer after the Thursday deadline. Thank you.

I wish they would go back to posting the new puzzle online Saturday afternoons like they were doing up until recently, but I guess they now have an anal retentive intern who has hang-ups about not posting until after Sunday begins in his time zone.

@Tom W. Wow, that clue takes me back. I used to actually bring such paraphernalia, along with feather boas, etc. to the disco so I could be corny and match the song instructions. I'll be going to New Orleans next month but you won't find me giving instructions to just anybody on the street.

RoRo,I think you are referring to Anita Ward and not the engineering clue. Yes, disco in the 1970s was lots of fun, and the music is still great listening today. Thanks to YouTube, anyone can relive the moment. Odd, but this week's puzzle has a link to the late Steve Jobs as did the puzzle from a few weeks ago. Your name reminds me of Rho(ρ) which appears in many scientific and engineering equations.

Back to last week's puzzle, I mentioned that our Halloween costumes were related to the puzzle. The second part of the answer last week was Pioneer. And our costume theme this Halloween was Early Explorers of the New World

D35TR0Y3R -> Have you thought about the musical clues? The answer will be posted here tomorrow afternoon, so you won't have to wait until the NPR Sunday broadcast if the answer doesn't come to you. I wish I could tell you more, but I have to follow Blaine's rules like everyone else. Sometimes the answers come quickly, other times not so quickly, so keep trying and join the fun!

D35TR0Y3R -> I can assure you more people who read this blog and listen to NPR don't always solve the puzzle, so don't despair. When you solve a puzzle, you get a great feeling and most of the clues make sense (except some of mine, sorry!) Don't give up yet, and keep coming back every week to join the fun. Maybe Blaine can arrange a social event for us so we can all meet somewhere, sometime. He has created an extremely powerful Think tank here.

@Tom W. RhoRho, I like the sound of that! @Benmar, how can you say obscure? this person has been making hits since the 60's, reinvented self in the 70s (nearly sold out Constitution Hall with the reunion of which) Wrote a book, and has hits in 80s and 90s. You live under (heavy influence of) rock?

SDB: I think D35TR0Y3R went to bed. I was going to recommend some Mexican food to stimulate the brain cells. Did you watch the Anita Ward music video on YouTube? Those disco days were something else. Cheap gasoline, fast cars, and few worries. I know RoRo remembers!

TomW:Well I do hope he set his alarm clock.Cheap Mexican food, no doubt, and not at Taco Time.I have no idea who Anita Ward is. I never liked disco either. I never could get them to play Schubert at disco clubs. Carmina Burana either.

@sdb yeah and TV roles too although usually played somebody's parent pushing prune danishes. D35troy3r, if you look at these hints and go to New Orleans I'm sure you would have a new perspective and a new attitude or you could even go to Oz even if you are not the first. Good one Jan!

"New puzzle is up now and it may be difficult for many of us to reach the correct answer.

Musical clue: Lionel Richie"

REACH as in reach out and touch. L.R. "HELLO."

"If you haven't figured it out yet hang on because I have some more clues coming soon."

HANG ON as in a phone conversation.

"I wish they would go back to posting the new puzzle online Saturday afternoons like they were doing up until recently, but I guess they now have an anal retentive intern who has hang-ups about not posting until after Sunday begins in his time zone."

All that for HANG-UPS.

"Don't forget to set your alarm." & "Well I do hope he set his alarm clock."

ALARM CLOCK BELLS.

"Cheap Mexican food, no doubt, and not at Taco Time."

Hint @ TACO BELL.

"Attention to detail could help solve this puzzle.

Blaine: Did you and the family, in your costumes, go doorbell ringing for candy?"

The ominous,ubiquitous villain in "The President's Analyst" (a fine old spy spoof) was TPC, The Phone Company, based on AT&T. Quasimodo, of course, rang A BELL. McCartney: "Michelle, MA BELL" (more or less).

I wanted to hint at Lauren Weinstein's "The Day Bell System Died," an excellent take-off on Don McLean's "American Pie", but couldn't figure how to make it non-obvious.

It feels like the first time I'm solving this puzzle! -> In reference to Foreigner when Patti Labelle and Diana Ross performed together in 1985.

NPN, PNP, FET and UJT. Have I forgotten any? -> Different types of transistors in reference to AT&T Bell Laboratories where the transistor was invented.

Has anyone else noticed that the logo is actually an anachronism? I think Will Shortz may be in a world of trouble on this one. Comments? -> The "Bell" symbol was replaced with a world globe.

Anita Ward; "Ring My Bell". Here's the link for the music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPYese-Hl8M

For the engineers: log(Po/Pi). -> The formula for Bel.

One last clue: W-LL-CW -> You have to be a ham radio operator to figure this one out. W = ITU prefix designator for America(n), LL = Telephone Land line or Long Lines, and CW = Continuous Wave (telegraph).

Jan,That's great. I'm going to contact Blaine to see if we can exchange e-mail addresses. I would rather do it that way instead of posting personal information here. I relocated to Florida and love it here!

@D35.. Don't feel badly, many a time I have perused the clues and said "What the Heck". Anyway, my clues were from eeeearly song "I sold my heart to the junkman" and New Orleans for Voulez vou coushe avec moi or whatever (my colleague says grammatically incorrect). I did bring bells, finger cymbles,etc. to the discos. Loved LaBelle and dressed up for the period to go see them a couple of years ago in DC. Songs "I got a New Attitude" and her somewhere over the rainbow is pretty popular considering she is not Judy Garland (OZ), She is currently? playing FELA's mother on broadway and (Blaine's clue?) she pushed those prune danishes as Adele (Dwayne's mom) in It's a Different World"

I would caution that the past few week there have been subtle differences in wording between the posted and the spoken, on-air puzzles. Sometimes, there were examples given that eliminated themselves as possible puzzle answers; other times there were clarifications that were available only on-air. I'd advise listening to the puzzle on-air before submitting an answer: you're allowed only one entry, and there's no benefit to submitting early.